Kayla Standish
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National Director of Scouting
Posted Jul 8, 2006
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Stephanie Wilber, Kayla Standish and Madison Yakaboski from the state of Washington are three of the several players from 2007, '08 and '09 whom we break down from the second day of competition at the End of the Trail viewing tournament in Oregon City, Ore.
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PHOTOS BY GLENN NELSON
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The state of Washington was well represented Friday at the End of the Trail in the ’07, ’08 and ’09 classes. Stephanie Wilber the 6-foot-1 forward from Auburn, Wash., brought most of the Pac-10 to her afternoon game against the Santa Monica Surf at Clackamas Community College. Just before that, coaches watched a close game between Kayla Pedersen’s AZ Elite team and ’09 rising star Madison Yakaboski of Duvall, Wash., before congregating, one and all on Wilber’s game. Meanwhile back at Oregon City High School an unknown scorer was emerging in Kayla Standish of Ellensburg, Wash.
Wilber’s stock has been rising since March after she had finally recovered from a bout with mono that slowed her play last year. Arizona, Arizona State, Oregon State, Stanford, Washington and Washington State all were courtside to watch Wilber. At 6-1, she is also strong. She can step outside and knock down perimeter jumpers and grind it out around the basket. Her energy and quickness are much improved now that she’s healthy.
Standish is not known by many, even in her home state as she plays for a small high school in Ellensburg, Wash., and hasn’t traveled to many viewing tournaments outside the region. She’s a 6-2 shooter who can handle the ball fairly well and has a hair-trigger, picture-perfect release on her jumper. She runs the floor well and is a deadly catch-and-shoot player. Her inside post game is decent as well and she showed well enough for some top 25 programs to take notice.
Yakaboski is an amazing young talent who can penetrate and kick out or put up any number of shots against numerous defenders. She hit some big-time step-back three-pointers against the AZ Elite to stay in the game. Her shot isn’t picturesque but she gets it off quickly. Defensively, she can make an impact when she pressures the ball and needs to look to make a difference on the defensive end regularly.
This trio put on a decent show on Friday and highlighted another great day of action at the End of the Trail.
Claire Rapp, a 5-11 guard from Prosser, Wash., showed her great speed and athleticism against NorCal Elite. She’s a super strong kid with great straight line speed and can finish with both hands. Her strength helps make a difference maker on defense as well.
Cy Fair Elite wing Karima Christmas, showed she is blessed with the gift of mad hops by blocking shots all over the gym on Friday morning. Athletically she’s rivaled by very few. She has a strong upper body as well and she looked great exploding past defenders on the baseline and finishing at the cup. Things inside were coming so easy she didn’t have to take a perimeter jumper.
Courtney Collishaw, a 6-0 combo guard from Visalia, Calif., was all over the court for West Coast Elite CenCal. She gets into the lane and makes good decisions, can score with contact and best of all is her shooting stroke which is money out to 23 feet. She’s easily the best shooter in Oregon so far. She scored 17 points against the Lubbock Hawks Friday night.
Outstanding combo guard Alli Smalley of Arab, Ala., stood out with her ability to push the ball up the floor and make accurate one-hand baseball passes on a dime to help her team get in transition. She penetrated well and made good decisions.
Katherine Graham, a 5-11 guard from Birmingham, Ala., showed a silky smooth crossover and other change of direction dribble moves. She has strength and quickness and uses it to be a solid on ball defender. Her strength and aggressiveness also allow her to finish with contact when going to the basket. Her shooting stroke looked pretty nice too.
Lubbock Hawks post Kelsey Ansley used her size advantage well against the West Coast Elite CenCal squad in their bracket quarterfinals. Her 18 points led a comeback against West Coast Elite CenCal. She is very comfortable with her back to the basket, where she can use her body for position and then go to work using a drop step to the baseline and over power her defender. She also showed a mid-range jumper that had nice touch.
Johna Ward, a scoring guard who plays the point as well for Reno’s Jam On It team, came out scorching hot, hitting a three and getting points off of dribble penetration. She was creating her shot easily enough early on against Fencor that they decided to deny her the ball the rest of the game, which led to the Fencor pulling away. She showed a step back jumper, good ball control, range, the works.
Nicki Reeves, a 6-2 post from Elizabeth, Colo., showed she is emerging as a solid forward prospect. She’s thin but she runs the floor well and tries to use her length and leverage to defend inside. Added strength could make her a bigger impact player defensively.
Tuscon point guard Haley Parsons, pushed the ball up against pressure, distributed the ball making good decisions in the open floor, penetrated into the lane and showed off shooting range beyond the three point line.
Rosie Tarnowski, a 6-1 wing and forward for Fencor picked up the slack inside with Elena DelleDonne out with an ankle injury. She showed the ability to score around the basket with both hands and hit the three in Fencor’s rout of Jam On It. She’s a smart player who plays hard every play.
Brenna Heater from Ashland, Ore., combines size and athleticism and together they make a pretty impressive sophomore-to-be. She’s already got a college body and uses it pretty well and stands 6-3. She hit an impressive 17-foot jumper with defense in her face off the break that makes you wonder what this kid could look like in three years.
Orinda Magic – Black forward DeNesha Stallworth played a lot older than a sophomore on Friday using solid pivots and her athleticism to get the free throw line regularly and showed the ability to knock them down as well. Her mid-range jumper looks nice and with her strength and coordination extending her range to the three point line should just be a matter of repetitions in practice.
Chris Hansen is the National Director of Scouting for Women's Basketball at HoopGurlz.com and Scout.com. Chris leads the panel that evaluates and ranks girl's basketball prospects nationally for HoopGurlz, Scout.com and Full Court Press (www.FullCourt.com). Chris has been involved in the women’s basketball community since 1998 as a coach, trainer, evaluator and reporter. He can be reached at chansen@scout.com.
Our Complete 2006 End of the Trail Coverage Menu:
EOT Watch - July 8
Who is this girl, Melissa Jones, and why are all those coaches following her in Oregon City?
Team to Watch: CenCal Elite
Courtney Collishaw and her CenCal Elite teammates make a splash at the End of the Trail.
EOT Watch - July 7
Breakdowns of players, including Kayla Standish, from the second day of competition.
EOT Watch - July 6
Breakdowns of players, including Kelsey Bone, from the first day of competition.
Team to Watch: EBX 15s
Alex Cowling and the East Bay Xplosion Black are poised to do damage on the viewing circuit.
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